Honeybee Symposium Speakers - 2017
Jerry Hayes
Jerry Hayes is the Honey Bee Commercial lead for Monsanto's newly formed BioDirect business unit. Before joining Monsanto he was the Chief of the Apiary Section for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In the role he was responsible for the regulatory health of the 350,000 colonies in the State of Florida, a State highly dependent on Honey Bee pollination for agricultural success. For the past 30 years Jerry has written a monthly column in the American Bee Journal called The Classroom and a book by the same name. Jerry is a founding member of the Colony Collapse Working Group, a science advisory board member for Project Apis mellifera (PAm) and the Bee Informed Partnership. He has been author and co-author on multiple research papers that delve into how to understand and preserve honey bee health.
In Jerry's 35 plus years in the Apiculture Industry his overarching desire has been to create sustainable honey bee management practices while partnering with other segments of agriculture. The cornerstone of his career has been to educate others that honey bees are the key pollinators and the critical role they play in agriculture; while in parallel encouraging the development of multi-dimensional landscapes for the benefit of honey bees and all pollinators.
Sam Comfort
Sam Comfort worked for several years in commercial beekeeping across the country before starting Anarchy Apiaries in 2005. Through raising queens from hardy survivor stock, the mission is to 1) make more beehives than televisions, and 2) have a good time, all the time (with bees). Anarchy Apiaries runs around 600 hives and 400 mating nucs with no treatments. The hive styles are a mix of Langstroth, top bar, and modified-Warre “Comfort” hives, located in both the Hudson Valley, New York, and southeast Florida. Through teaching self-contained, self-reliant beekeeping, we hope to make it more affordable, approachable, and enjoyable, as well as bring the means of production back to the beekeeper.
Anthony Jerome Blankenship
Anthony Jerome Blankenship keeps around 200 hives at his apiary in Hurley Virginia, where he has worked with honeybees for nearly 40 years. Jerome began selling honeybee colonies with his father about 20 years ago. He has attended various bee schools and has presented in Kentucky at the Winter Bee School in Hazard, the Capital City Beekeepers Association in Frankfort, the Floyd County Beekeepers Association, the Bell County Beekeepers Association, Jenny Wiley State Park in Prestonsburg, and the Richlands Chamber of Commerce Winter Honey Festival in Richlands, Virginia.
Jerry Hayes is the Honey Bee Commercial lead for Monsanto's newly formed BioDirect business unit. Before joining Monsanto he was the Chief of the Apiary Section for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In the role he was responsible for the regulatory health of the 350,000 colonies in the State of Florida, a State highly dependent on Honey Bee pollination for agricultural success. For the past 30 years Jerry has written a monthly column in the American Bee Journal called The Classroom and a book by the same name. Jerry is a founding member of the Colony Collapse Working Group, a science advisory board member for Project Apis mellifera (PAm) and the Bee Informed Partnership. He has been author and co-author on multiple research papers that delve into how to understand and preserve honey bee health.
In Jerry's 35 plus years in the Apiculture Industry his overarching desire has been to create sustainable honey bee management practices while partnering with other segments of agriculture. The cornerstone of his career has been to educate others that honey bees are the key pollinators and the critical role they play in agriculture; while in parallel encouraging the development of multi-dimensional landscapes for the benefit of honey bees and all pollinators.
Sam Comfort
Sam Comfort worked for several years in commercial beekeeping across the country before starting Anarchy Apiaries in 2005. Through raising queens from hardy survivor stock, the mission is to 1) make more beehives than televisions, and 2) have a good time, all the time (with bees). Anarchy Apiaries runs around 600 hives and 400 mating nucs with no treatments. The hive styles are a mix of Langstroth, top bar, and modified-Warre “Comfort” hives, located in both the Hudson Valley, New York, and southeast Florida. Through teaching self-contained, self-reliant beekeeping, we hope to make it more affordable, approachable, and enjoyable, as well as bring the means of production back to the beekeeper.
Anthony Jerome Blankenship
Anthony Jerome Blankenship keeps around 200 hives at his apiary in Hurley Virginia, where he has worked with honeybees for nearly 40 years. Jerome began selling honeybee colonies with his father about 20 years ago. He has attended various bee schools and has presented in Kentucky at the Winter Bee School in Hazard, the Capital City Beekeepers Association in Frankfort, the Floyd County Beekeepers Association, the Bell County Beekeepers Association, Jenny Wiley State Park in Prestonsburg, and the Richlands Chamber of Commerce Winter Honey Festival in Richlands, Virginia.
